UMassHoops.com

69MG wrote:If Zag is correct we can put the Mack to IU rumor to bed (and Kelsey to X). He says it's Alford now that UCLA is out.

http://www.zagsblog.com/2017/03/24/cue- ... diana-talk

Mack could go to UCLA and Kelsey to Xavier, but Alford did sound pretty heartfelt that he was staying at UCLA. If he does then god for him.

MassMan06 wrote:

NilesGold wrote:In hindsight, there are two things that I wish Bamford had done differently.

1. I wish Bamford had waited until Kelsey & his family had visited UMass before making an agreement/MOU and announcing anything.
2. I wish Bamford had been able to see Kelsey for the fraud he is. I think this is something the vetting process maybe should've helped to identify.

#2 is BS. I won't even address that.

#1 - I have no idea how common it is for a coach to see the campus/facilities before being offered the job. Furthermore, we don't know why he left. What I do feel pretty confident saying is that Bamford wouldn't parade every candidate around campus like he did with Kelsey once he agreed to become coach, and I'm guessing it was at some point during that process that he realized he didn't want to be here.

I also don't know if it's common to bring candidates to campus first, but to me it seems like an obvious and necessary first step.

#2 isn't BS. Let me be clear, I think Bamford has done a good job as our AD and on the whole he's done a good job on this search. But the situation with the Coaching Changes twitter (run by an assortment of people within the industry) made it very clear that Kelsey could not be trusted. No way am I trusting an anonymous souce 100%, but it gave me pause and it definitely should have raised a flag for Bamford.

I'd like to think X would want to hire a person of integrity to lead it's program if/when its current coach leaves.

PK looked so miserable in all the photos and sounded so miserable in all his tweets. Guy's a fraud and we are lucky to be rid of him, my guess is he will find trouble sometime in the future.

To say UMass wasn't a fit after 24hrs is such a lousy excuse, Amherst is annually voted one of the top college towns in America. The university was ranked #74 in US News rankings (maybe he doesn't read much). I would hate to coach somewhere my athletes could achieve a respected degree. The facilities, yeah they suck too, no coach wants a brand new facility that his team and staff have access to 24hrs a day with EVERYTHING they could possibly want.

This Winthrop must be a magical place.....


Let's just find someone that sees the opportunity here and move forward.

^ Bingo! Better to be left high and dry by him now rather in a year or two...

TheInsider wrote:^ Bingo! Better to be left high and dry by him now rather in a year or two...

Even worse, what if he changed his mind in a month or two. We would really be screwed trying to find a coach.

69MG wrote:

TheInsider wrote:^ Bingo! Better to be left high and dry by him now rather in a year or two...

Even worse, what if he changed his mind in a month or two. We would really be screwed trying to find a coach.

And Halpin would still insist he never talked to him about leaving for the UMass job.

Winthrop has less than 6,000 students

Xavier has less than 7,000 students

Wake Forest has less than 8,000 students

So Umass is basically 3-4 times bigger than any school he has been a part of. Maybe it was intimidating for him.

As noted, we haven't seen the MOU language so whether it constitutes a contract is an open question, but this stuff about the resignation never being filed sounds fishy. If true, he must never have been on board and was hedging his bets - but if that were the case, why would he go overboard with all the Tweets? I also thought I saw something from Winthrop wishing Kelsey good luck like he was already out the door. If the thing about the resignation is not true, Winthrop is trying to avoid being on the hook for the buyout since he technically didn't take a new job. If that's the case, it would be hard to access any documents to prove it since the parties involved have a vested interest in keeping their mouths shut. However, Winthrop is apparently a public school - I would assume that means it's subject to any South Carolina public records law. They could still say the resignation letter didn't exist, but they'd be violating the law by doing so if he really did resign. That may provide at least some leverage, especially if there's a records officer on the payroll that doesn't want to lose his job by being complicit.

If I'm UMass, I wait a couple of weeks before doing anything regarding the MOU (particularly until after tonight's Xavier game) to see how things play out. At the least, I'd hold him captive at Winthrop for 2 years and I'd try to get at least a fraction of a payment to cover the wasted time - say $50k (if they amend the MOU - assuming it's a valid contract to begin with - they'll need additional consideration to make it binding anyway). If he ends up at Xavier in a week due to "personal reasons," tell the Xavier AD who to make the check out to.

Oh, and lesson learned: in the future, maybe make sure the guy submits a letter of resignation to his last employer before calling for the band and blowing up the balloons.

Edited to add: depending on the strength of the MOU, UMass could also consider getting an injunction that would personally enjoin Kelsey from coaching anywhere - including Winthrop; that would eliminate the cute "he didn't resign" issue and provide the impetus to settle on a figure more to UMass' liking. It doesn't need to be a lock solid winning argument, just one that would be expensive for Kelsey and Winthrop to litigate.

This article seems to show that Halpin knew.

https://www.wrhi.com/2017/03/espn-repor ... ass-132394

" Winthrop athletic director Ken Halpin told media in a new release that Winthrop was fortunate to have had Kelsey as head coach and that he did everything right at the school and improved every aspect of the program. Halpin also noted that the process of hiring Kelsey’s replacement was already underway."

Mizor wrote:This article seems to show that Halpin knew.

https://www.wrhi.com/2017/03/espn-repor ... ass-132394

" Winthrop athletic director Ken Halpin told media in a new release that Winthrop was fortunate to have had Kelsey as head coach and that he did everything right at the school and improved every aspect of the program. Halpin also noted that the process of hiring Kelsey’s replacement was already underway."

It would be interesting to find out if Mark Prosser's son signed an MOU or a full-blown contract with Winthrop in the interim - Winthrop lawyers would be nuts to sign a new coach without a resignation from the old one.

Glad to be moving forward without Kelsey. I have nothing bad to say, except that he's adorned his twitter account with pictures of his kids, like a pathetic online human shield to deter attack.

Looking forward to a better fit for our program.

zultr wrote:

Mizor wrote:This article seems to show that Halpin knew.

https://www.wrhi.com/2017/03/espn-repor ... ass-132394

" Winthrop athletic director Ken Halpin told media in a new release that Winthrop was fortunate to have had Kelsey as head coach and that he did everything right at the school and improved every aspect of the program. Halpin also noted that the process of hiring Kelsey’s replacement was already underway."

It would be interesting to find out if Mark Prosser's son signed an MOU or a full-blown contract with Winthrop in the interim - Winthrop lawyers would be nuts to sign a new coach without a resignation from the old one.

The mark prosser angle is our strongest evidence of intent/knowledge of any parties involved.IMO.

RTL wrote:Winthrop has less than 6,000 students

Xavier has less than 7,000 students

Wake Forest has less than 8,000 students

So Umass is basically 3-4 times bigger than any school he has been a part of. Maybe it was intimidating for him.

Seems to fit the narrative that he got up here and had an anxiety attack once shown around campus. Based on his history this sounds plausible, just not sure I buy it 100%.

I'm just hoping that the weasel gets left at the alter on this..... Reading now that Archie Miller (Dayton) has accepted the IU job. That's a big shoe to drop because the X job stays filled. The weasel could end up at Dayton possibly but whooopie-do. There is also rampant speculation for Anthony Grant (great hire) or Crean and both guys are worlds better than the weasel.
For now, I am relishing the thought that the weasel is damaged goods and will be sitting with his thumb you know where on Rock Hill. The icing on the cake would be if we get a fantastic hire for the next 10 years. BTW, while his name is in mind, would Grant come here?